Technologies Will Reshape Digital Business in 2018

Dimension Data says Blockchain has
immense potential to disrupt and transform the world of
money, business, and society

New Zealand – 11
December 2017 – Blockchain, together with artificial
intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and virtual and
augmented reality, have the potential to deliver disruptive
outcomes and reshape digital business in 2018. And companies
that have not started the digital investment cycle are at
high risk of being disrupted.

This is according to the
list of top IT predictions for 2018 published today
by Dimension Data. But the top trend for the coming year is
the adoption of Blockchain - the technology behind Bitcoin -
and its immense potential to disrupt and transform the world
of money, business, and society using a variety of
applications.

Ettienne Reinecke, Dimension Data’s Group
Chief Technology Officer, says Blockchain has gone from
strength to strength. “Last year, when we looked at the
top digital business trends for 2017, we predicted that
centralised transaction models would come under attack. We
were spot on. In the financial services sector, we’ve seen
the US and European capital markets moving onto Blockchain
platforms, and similar activity in markets such as Japan.
Considering how conservative and compliance-focused this
sector is, that’s quite remarkable.

“It’s ironic
that the cybercriminals who perpetrated the recent WannaCry
ransomware attack could hold a federal government to ransom
and demand to be paid in Bitcoin. Bitcoin might be a
crypto-currency, but it’s based on Blockchain, and if
cybercriminals are confident that Bitcoin provides a safe
mechanism for the payment of ransoms, it indicates just how
secure the distributed ledger approach is. I believe that
Blockchain has the potential to totally re-engineer
cybersecurity, but the industry has yet to come to terms
with it.”

Reinecke predicts that Blockchain will also
deliver on the promise of Internet of Things (IoT) in the
year ahead. “In the world of IoT you’re generating
millions of small transactions that are being collected from
a distributed set of sensors. It’s not feasible to operate
these systems using a centralised transactional model:
it’s too slow, expensive, and exclusive. To extract the
true value from IoT technology you have to be able to
operate in real time. Once a sensor alert is received from a
control system you must react to it, meter it, and bill for
it instantly – all of which negates the viability of a
centralised transactional authority. The cost of the
transaction has to be near-zero or free, and the cost
elements of a centralised model simply don’t support the
potential business model in IoT,” he explains.

In 2018,
some interesting applications of Blockchain and IoT in the
area of cybersecurity will emerge. Significant attacks have
recently been launched from low-cost IoT endpoints, and
there’s very little incentive for manufacturers of these
devices to incur the cost of a security stack, which leaves
them extremely vulnerable. Blockchain can play a fundamental
role in securing these environments.

Another exciting
trend to look forward to is the boom in new wireless
technologies that will enable IoT and bring us a step closer
to the dream of pervasive connectivity. Some of these
advancements will include 5G and Gbps Wi-Fi, new controls,
virtual beacon technology, and low power, long distance
radio frequency.

There’s also a “digital fight-back”
coming on the part of certain incumbent players. Established
businesses that have proactively transformed into digital
businesses, modernised their architectures, and embedded
high levels of automation into their operations have a
window of opportunity to claw back market share in the year
ahead. That’s because there’s been an increase in the
number of cloud-born start-ups themselves starting to be
disrupted in certain industries.

“I predict that a
number of digitally transformed incumbents will successfully
start reclaiming their markets because they have more
credibility, longer histories, an established customer base,
and assets that can stand the test of time,” says
Reinecke.

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